


Love Thy Neighbor

by sarcasticsra



Category: MASH (TV)
Genre: Gen, Introspection, M/M, POV First Person, POV Outsider
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-01
Updated: 2013-03-01
Packaged: 2017-12-03 23:24:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/703841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarcasticsra/pseuds/sarcasticsra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"It’s always when Pierce’s mind gets away from him that we call in Sidney."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love Thy Neighbor

**Author's Note:**

> Has been slightly edited from its original form. Originally written for [](http://alphabetasoup.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://alphabetasoup.livejournal.com/)**alphabetasoup** , prompt: **a** is for **amuck**.

It’s always when Pierce’s mind gets away from him that we call in Sidney.

Hell of a psychiatrist, Sidney. I trust and respect him, and I know Pierce does too. He’s a good man and a good doctor.

I know that he and Pierce are...close. Too close, some might say. Of course, some don’t know both of those two the way I do. Some haven’t seen the way Pierce can get sometimes, and the way he’s ten times better off after a visit from Sidney.

I don’t pretend to understand it. I never really figured out why some men felt that way for other men. Some call it sick or wrong or abnormal; I know if Burns were smart enough to figure it out I’d never hear the end of it. That man is what the makers of the word ‘coward’ had in mind that day, always hiding behind a military rule book or the Bible.

I’ve read the Bible a few fair times myself, but I got the message as ‘love thy neighbor,’ not ‘hate everyone who’s different than you.' Maybe it is wrong, I don’t know, that’s up to the Almighty to judge, not me. All I know is that if it keeps Pierce’s sanity from running away on him, I don’t have a problem with it. He’s a fine doctor and an even better person. It’s between him and Sidney.

Sometimes I wonder who else knows. I reckon McIntyre might’ve, from tales of how “close” the two of them were. Hunnicutt might too; he and Pierce seem to be attached at the hip. Houlihan and Burns have no clue; I’d know if they knew. They’d tell me, probably in triplicate.

I have to admit, though, Pierce does a hell of a job keeping any suspicion off himself, but this old war horse knows what certain looks are saying, no matter how cryptic they’re trying to be. Pierce can make a pass at every woman to come through the 4077th, but it’s clear to me who the man really needs.

Sidney, on the other hand, is probably close to Pierce’s exact opposite. Quiet, reserved, calm, and much more subtle. Makes him harder to read, but I’ve been around the block a few times. Need is need, no matter who is involved.

I don’t think I’ll ever tell Pierce about what I know. I think he’s figured me out, anyway. If I did tell him, I don’t think there’d be much to say—I’d bring it up, he’d look at me like a defiant, but slightly scared little lad. I’d say my piece, he’d relax, probably make some wisecrack, nod, then leave, and that would be that.

What would I say? Probably that it didn’t matter and that help was help, so long as they stayed discreet. Course, I’d probably stand behind them even if it did come to light. It seems to me that something that important to both of them can't be too bad. It keeps Pierce’s mind from running amuck and Sidney from getting stuck in his own head, and I can't find fault in that.

It even sounds like something I’d defend, no matter how much whining I’d have to endure from Frank Burns.


End file.
